This blog examines past, current, and best practices, techniques, and lessons learned of various business intelligence implementations.

Mobile BI

May 20, 2016

Within seconds, a company executive in the U.S. can know exactly how many parts their global manufacturing plants are producing. A delivery company can tell you exactly to the minute when their truck will be arriving. A utility company can monitor usage across the country and know when it’s reaching a peak. All of this can be done because of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data.

The IoT is basically a collection of Internet - enabled devices or sensors, other than your computer, which are connected to the Internet and can send and receive data. Big data is what you get when all of this information is collected and analyzed.

Devices such as smartphones, scanners, sensors, and GPS can gather and distribute a lot of information. IoT technology allows the input from these devices to be pulled together. Once it's all been collected, companies can utilize big data analytics tools to improve business operations, manage equipment and people, target marketing and make their business run more effectively and efficiently.

The IoT is forcing people and companies to change the way they look at things. Information is being funneled fast, in large amounts, structured and unstructured and from places we never thought we’d get information from. Refrigerators talking to smartphones for a shopping list, or fitness trackers measuring your burned calories, sensors sending vital health data to doctors to monitor their patient‘s health in real time, and anything else you can imagine. Vendors can then use that information for marketing directly to consumers or provide better and timely service. Inventory in stores could soon be reliant on just a sensor on a shelf that indicates when an item needs to be restocked.

The next step for businesses is to figure out how to make the most of the data pouring in from things like smart meters, devices, and sensors. How is this data going to affect your next business decision and how is it all going to be analyzed?

Companies need to plan for a continuing influx of data as more devices become connected and interconnected. You need the bandwidth to store data, the real-time analytical tools to analyze it, and the ability to monetize it and turn it into something profitable. Without a plan, you could be left behind.

February 18, 2016

Big data. It’s a pretty broad term, but it’s used to describe data sets that are so big or complex that in order to get the most value out of them companies need to use enhanced data applications; and more importantly know how to manage all of the information.

When it comes to big data, it’s not so much about how much you have, but more about what you can do with it. Managing this data means creating a structure that can store, process, and organize large volumes of structured and unstructured data.

For example, a typical bank offers its customers multiple products; a mortgage, car loan, checking account, saving account, credit line, etc. In today’s economy customers also conduct transactions online and via mobile devices, and provide feedback on services via social media. Should all that data be stored in different places? No, but banks and other firms are starting to recognize that having all that relevant data stored in one place can provide a wealth of insights about their customers, which is critical to better serving their customers and offering them customized products that makes sense. Having that data in one place will enable efficient data management control and a single-client view.

Regardless of the size of your company or the data being brought in, big data can provide a whole new way of approaching big decisions.

A consumer-oriented company can use big data to listen to, learn from, and leverage consumer feedback to produce targeted B-to-C campaigns. All of the feedback collected from social media and surveys allows a company to build and update consumer profiles and then execute personalized marketing and advertising campaigns.

Insight-driven organizations (IDO) need data to drive decisions. A lot of the time, though, there is so much data these organizations don’t even know where to start. It can be a very long journey to take big data and turn it into insight-driven material. As an IDO you need to figure out what insights will be most impactful with your clients. Then you need to know if you have the right data and analytics to create these insights, and if not, how do you go about getting that information? Once those insights are available how do you create a strategy to implement them in day-to-day decisions making?

Regardless of who is using big data or how it’s being used, there are always concerns about security. Most companies don’t have the infrastructure to store big data on their own IT networks, which means they are either going to be using the Cloud or a third party storage. Transferring data out doesn’t mean to companies transfer their liability. With data coming in from all avenues; social media, emails, files, etc., there are more entry points that need to be protected as along with external access points where the data is being housed.

Finding the most accurate and secure way to use big data will lead to better decision making - which will result in more efficient operations, reducing costs, and reducing risks.

March 23, 2008

The concept of the “mobile” worker is nothing new.For decades, sales and service professionals have rarely visited their home bases, and instead devoted the bulk of their time to traveling from one customer site to another.Additionally, many executives, senior managers, and line of business supervisors are required to spend significant amounts of time on the road and away from the office.

But, regardless of their role, each one of these workers needs to have anytime, anywhere access to the same kinds of up-to-date, mission-critical business information as on-site employees.Without it, they will be completely disconnected from core business activities and operations – rendering them unable to identify and leverage vital trends and opportunities, or discover and correct problems and issues in a timely fashion when they are away from headquarters.

That’s where mobile business intelligence comes in.

This type of technology, although innovative and cutting-edge, has existed for quite some time.As the use of mobile devices became well entrenched in day-to-day work activities, many of the leading tools on the market began enhancing their offerings accordingly by incorporating the ability to distribute reports to cell phones, pagers, and handheld devices (such as Blackberrys, Palm Pilots, and Windows Pocket PCs) on a scheduled or event-driven basis.These features, although a major step in the right direction, solved only a portion of the problem, since off-site staffers had access to only a fraction of the business intelligence functionality they needed.

But, in the past few years, mobile business intelligence solutions have evolved tremendously to give “on the go” employees greater control over how their reporting and analysis needs are satisfied.Ad hoc queries, monitoring of KPIs and performance metrics, real-time alerts, and even dashboard-style information delivery are now all possible with the implementation and use of advanced mobile BI applications.

If your company maintains a large base of remote employees, or staff members that are frequently away from the office, then mobile BI solutions should be on the top of your priority list.In fact, an Information Week survey shows that while just 13 percent of companies currently have the technology in place to send BI data to mobile devices, more than one-third plan to implement that capability within the next two years.

But, not all mobile BI applications are created equal.When evaluating vendors, be sure to look for the following features and functionality:

A simple and intuitive interface that is similar to the client/server or Web-based version of the solution.

Maximum flexibility, so mobile users can access, run, and interact with reports in any way needed.

Access to real-time corporate data – not just “canned” or pre-run reports.

The ability to work seamlessly with virtually any commonly-used handheld device.